A collection of top water news from around California and the West compiled each weekday. Send any comments or article submissions to Foundation News & Publications Director Vik Jolly.
Subscribe to our weekday emails to have news delivered to your inbox at about 9 a.m. Monday through Friday except for holidays.
Some of the sites we link to may limit the number of stories you can access without subscribing.
We occasionally bold words in the text to ensure the water connection is clear.
The headlines below are the original headlines used in the publication cited at the time they are posted here and do not reflect the stance of the Water Education Foundation, an impartial nonprofit that remains neutral.
On this week’s “In Focus SoCal,” Spectrum News’ Renee Eng …
also sits down with Assemblymember Lori Wilson to discuss the
Delta Conveyance Project, which was not included in the final
state budget. Wilson, along with other Delta lawmakers, opposed
the project that would create a massive underground tunnel to
reroute a big chunk of the state’s water supply.
… Wilson offered alternative solutions that the Delta
Caucus would consider, strengthening the state water system
without impact on the Delta.
… A new technology equips membranes used in the
reverse-osmosis desalination process with
electrical conductivity, improving their ability to separate
salts and other contaminants from hard-to-treat waters. Active
Membranes, a California-based company, licensed the technology
originating from UC Riverside and UCLA to advance its
development and bring it to market. Their team received funding
for this work from the National Alliance for Water Innovation
(NAWI), a public-private partnership led by the U.S. Department
of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley
Lab). NAWI focuses on advancing technologies that enable the
use of unconventional water sources in real-world settings. In
addition to federal support, NAWI is backed by several
California water agencies, reflecting strong regional interest
in securing reliable water supplies. According to NAWI
Executive Director Peter Fiske, the new active membrane can
effectively treat wastewater that is brought to the
surface during oil and gas extraction.
The Kaweah subbasin is the second San Joaquin Valley region to
successfully escape state intervention, managers learned
today. In a phone call with state Water Resources Control
Board staff, managers of Kaweah’s three groundwater
sustainability agencies got the news that their efforts to
rewrite their groundwater management plans were good enough for
staff to recommend that they return to Department of Water
Resources oversight. … The Chowchilla subbasin
successfully made the u-turn from state enforcement back to
oversight in early June. Fukuda said Kaweah will follow much
the same path as Chowchilla. The Water Board will consider
the staff recommendation for Kaweah at a meeting in the fall,
when it can pass a resolution formally sending Kaweah back to
DWR. Returning to DWR oversight guarantees landowners
freedom from additional fees under the Sustainable Groundwater
Management Act, which mandates that overdraft stop and aquifers
reach balance by 2040.
Lake Mead has dropped about 2 feet since the beginning of June
as drought conditions continue to worsen across Nevada. On
the first of the month, the elevation was 1,057 ft and as of
June 29, it’s now at 1,055.13 ft. Currently, the elevation
higher than it’s record-breaking low year in 2022. However, the
reservoir is sitting lower than where it was in 2020, 2021,
2023, and 2024. The reservoir is currently at 31% capacity,
while Lake Powell sits at 32% capacity, according to the latest
teacup diagrams from Bureau of Reclamation (BOR). The current
unregulated inflow of water from the Colorado River to Lake
Powell is estimated to be 45% of average through July,
according to the latest 24-month Most Probable Study for the
Upper and Lower Colorado Basin Regions from BOR.
… To many of its visitors, and the several hundred people who
live along its 31-mile shoreline deep within the sprawling
Mendocino National Forest, Lake Pillsbury is the region’s
heartbeat. But Scott Dam, at the foot of Lake Pillsbury, and
another, smaller dam on the river 12 miles downstream, have
also become a headache for Pacific Gas & Electric Co., which
owns both dams. And that’s creating a controversy that’s drawn
interest from everyone from those who live on Lake Pillsbury,
to North Bay communities whose water supplies are linked to
both dams, to federal agencies now under control of President
Donald Trump. … PG&E is on track to decommission
those dams, and under a historic agreement reached earlier this
year, both are being slated to be torn down in what would be
the nation’s next big dam removal project, freeing up the
headwaters of California’s third longest river to help revive
its troubled salmon and steelhead trout runs.
When it rains in Pescadero, Irma Rodriguez gets to work —
lining up containers on her patio to catch as much water as she
can. … The small rural town has one public water system, and
it serves less than half of the population. Now, San
Mateo County is preparing to raise rates for that system —
potentially tripling costs — deepening concerns among residents
already struggling to get by and not addressing those who
have no clean running water at all. … Of the seven
public water systems within 2 miles of Pescadero assessed by
the California State Water Resources Control Board in 2024, six
were either failing or at risk of failing. Only one — County
Service Area No. 11, or CSA-11 — was deemed to have “no
risk.” The “no risk” rating doesn’t reflect how many
people in the area actually get their water from creeks or
private wells that may never be tested, leaving their water
safety uncertain.
In a move environmentalists are hailing as an important victory
for Chinook salmon conservation, the federal government has
agreed to decide this year whether the fish warrants federal
protections. By Nov. 3, the National Marine Fisheries Service
must decide whether so-called Oregon Coast and Southern Oregon
and Northern California Coastal varieties of Chinook salmon
warrant protections under the Endangered Species Act. By Jan. 2
of next year, feds must do the same for Washington Coast
spring-run Chinook salmon, according to a settlement agreement
from Thursday. The Center for Biological Diversity — joined by
the Native Fish Society, Umpqua Watersheds, and Pacific Rivers
— in February sued the service and two top officials after the
service failed to issue 12-month findings on the groups’
petitions to list the fish.
An invasion of smallmouth bass from the Great Lakes region is
spreading to new areas of the Colorado River in Arizona. The
bass have already thwarted efforts to save threatened native
fish in the upper river basin, and wildlife officials are
fighting to keep the same from happening below Lake Powell,
even if it requires cranes, excavators and maybe one day, a
giant metal curtain. Federal officials say they took a major
step in fighting the bass invasion below the Glen Canyon Dam in
June. The National Park Service and Bureau of Reclamation have
cleared out a warm backwater in the river where bass and other
invasive species used to spawn, eliminating a critical resource
for the predatory fish that could wipe out one of the last
holdouts for some of the Colorado River’s threatened and
endangered fish. Every bass that spawned in the slough
became a threat to native fish, experts say. Smallmouth bass
eat native fish eggs and young.
Over 500,000 acres of farmland in California are expected to
come out of production by 2040 because of water limitations
from drought and state regulations. While some of this land may
be put to other uses, much of this acreage could be left
fallow. Finding ways to keep growing crops even when water is
limited would help farmers, protect the environment, and
support the economy. Winter cereals such as wheat, barley, and
triticale could be a part of the solution. These crops are low
maintenance and offer growers options for flexible management.
They can be grown with little water input, relying mostly on
precipitation from the winter rains, and can be harvested for a
range of forage and grain products. In some parts of
California, winter cereals are grown without any irrigation,
but rainfall in the San Joaquin Valley is unpredictable and
typically lower than the state average, making dryland
agriculture more difficult.
A magnitude 3.6 earthquake shook Shasta County early Friday
morning, waking residents shortly before 4 a.m. The quake’s
epicenter was not far from Shasta and Keswick Dams, prompting
dam operators to conduct precautionary inspections. Michael
Burke from the Bureau of Reclamation said … ”After the
earthquake, we actually went out to Spring Creek, Whiskeytown,
Lewiston and Shasta Dam and did a visual inspection, and there
was no findings.” The Shasta Dam, which recently celebrated its
80th anniversary, remains structurally sound despite showing
some wear. Experts said the dam’s concrete will not fully cure
for another 20 years. In related news, the Bureau of
Reclamation’s brand-new Shasta Dam Cam has gone live, offering
a 24/7 view from atop the visitors center. The camera provides
a continuous view of the three Shastas: Shasta Dam, the Shasta
Reservoir and Mount Shasta.
The South Yuba River Citizens League, in partnership with the
U.S. Forest Service, is launching the Salmon & Packer Creek
Aspen Restoration Project, a major forest restoration effort
aimed at revitalizing quaking aspen habitat within the Tahoe
National Forest. The State of California’s Wildlife
Conservation Board granted SYRCL $1.7 million for this
Restoration Project. Spanning a total of 292 acres north of
Highway 49 and west of Gold Lakes Highway, this project
includes degraded quaking aspen stands along Packer and Samon
Creek in the Lost Sierra along Packer Lake Road. The primary
goal is to restore and enhance 116 acres of aspen habitat, a
critical but declining habitat in the Sierra
Nevada. … One highlight of the project involves
installing approximately 15 Beaver Dam Analogs
(BDAs) in Salmon Creek Meadow. These low-tech
structures, built from earthen materials and small conifer
saplings, mimic natural beaver dams to slow water flow, expand
wet meadow habitat, and promote fringe aspen growth.
On June 4 our Utilities Advisory Commission (UAC) split 3-3 on
a vote to update some water contracts. … The issue at hand
was a pretty straight-forward one. The 26 wholesale customers
of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC),
including Palo Alto, negotiated new terms for minimum purchase
requirements, water allocation during drought, and a few other
things. The 26 customers all use the same contracts, so it took
a while (three years) to come to an agreement on changes. SFPUC
helped the process along by making some concessions. For
example, SFPUC agreed to collect no overuse fees from customers
if aggregate usage was within limits. … Fixing this for
these four customers will slightly increase water rates for the
others. (2) Drought allocations similarly have some give and
take, with Palo Alto needing to save somewhat more since much
of the city’s water is for outdoor (irrigation) use and not for
indoor (less flexible) use.
… The city of Santa Clarita, in collaboration with the Santa
Clarita Valley Water Agency, New York-based artist Sujin Lim,
the Visual Terrain design firm and the Santa Clarita Symphony
Orchestra, offered the free “River of Lights” experience
Wednesday evening to celebrate the unveiling of a public art
installation at Central Park in Saugus. According to Miranda,
the presentation was a celebration of creativity, innovation
and the connection the community shares with nature.
… At the center of the plaza stood the newly unveiled
art piece — a 14-foot-tall, 20-foot-wide set of steel clouds
and cascading raindrop piping called “When Cloud Met a Cloud.”
According to artist Lim, who specializes in creating
site-specific installations and sculptures, the pipes symbolize
both falling rain and the nearby pipeline in the Saugus hills
that bring water to the area. … Santa Clarita Mayor
Pro Tem Laurene Weste, in an interview before the “River of
Lights” presentation, spoke about the importance of teaching
children about water through art.
State negotiators grappling with how to share the
drought-ravaged Colorado River say they could be close to
breaking free from gridlock just as the Trump administration
warns that missing a November deadline could force the federal
government to take control. Members of the Upper Colorado River
Commission — which represents Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and
Wyoming — announced Thursday that the states are weighing a new
method of sharing the waterway based on the actual flow of the
river, as opposed to projected flows and historical agreements.
… The plan — at the heart of which is a formula for declaring
how much water can be shared among the seven states each year,
based on actual flows from the preceding three years — was
proposed by the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and
Nevada. … On Thursday, he (Interior Department acting
secretary for water and science Scott Cameron) set hard
deadlines for the states to meet, warning that if a draft
agreement has not taken shape by Nov. 11, then Reclamation will
need to shift its focus to federal action.
At its June 26, 2025, meeting, the Delta Stewardship Council
adopted the first-ever comprehensive regional climate
adaptation plan for California’s Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
Part of the Council’s Delta Adapts climate initiative, the
Adaptation Plan details strategies and actions to improve
regional resilience to climate change across four focus areas:
flood risk reduction, ecosystems, agriculture, and water supply
reliability. It also identifies equity considerations of
adaptation, costs, and governance challenges. The Council will
work with its partners and other interested parties to
implement the Adaptation Plan’s strategies, which will benefit
current and future generations. … “As the climate
continues to change, adaptation is no longer optional – it is
essential,” says Executive Officer Jessica R.
Pearson. “Investing in resilience today is how we
safeguard our communities, water supply, ecosystems, and
economies for tomorrow.”
A Department of Defense weather satellite program that collects
vital information for hurricane forecasts will stop
distributing data products to users Monday. The
termination of data products from the Defense Meteorological
Satellite Program could lead to dangerous declines in the
quality of hurricane forecasts, meteorologists say. …
NOAA, which provides operational support for the program,
issued a termination notice Wednesday. The agency did not
provide reasons for the decision. An official for the U.S.
Space Force, which manages the program, confirmed that the
satellites and their instruments are still fully functional.
And the Defense Department will still have access to DMSP data.
But for the program’s large network of users, the data products
are going dark — and it’s still unclear why. … It’s a
constellation of weather satellites collecting a variety of
measurements used to track everything from thunderstorms to fog
to snow and ice cover. Its data products are
used by researchers around the world, including forecasters at
the National Weather Service.
You’ve probably come across more stories about water woes in
California than you can recall, so you may feel you’ve had
enough for a while. I understand. … But there is one
indisputable fact that keeps surfacing in the conversations I
have about California water that feels like something of a
beacon. The first time I heard it, it came as quite a surprise.
Over the last half century or so, millions more people have
moved to greater Los Angeles. … And during this same
time, Angelenos have been consuming less water. … So,
how did this happen? The answer speaks to a general truth about
progress, which, in big, messy democracies, tends to occur not
all at once but in incremental, often unsexy ways, mostly out
of the news cycle. In this case the shift has involved some
simple, practical, boring fixes, like better plumbing,
alongside larger transformations in social norms, policies and
politics.
Dams and barriers placed on Alameda Creek have prevented
migratory fish from entering their native spawning grounds for
more than 50 years, but an $80 million effort to raze the last
significant obstacles and restore trout, salmon and other fish
to their historical habitat are now underway. A PG&E gas
pipeline is the last major barrier to restoring 20 miles of
upstream spawning habitat for Chinook salmon and steelhead
trout and will be relocated and buried by a coalition that
includes the Alameda County Water District, PG&E and the
San Francisco-based nonprofit California Trout. … The
plan is to remove the concrete barrier and move the gas
pipeline 100 feet downstream and bury it 20 feet underground to
reopen the creek for migratory fish, according to California
Trout senior project manager Claire Buchanan. Construction
will need to move quickly in order to return the creek to its
natural flow by Oct. 31, ahead of the fish migration season,
Buchanan said.
The role of water in the high-growth data center market is fast
becoming a critical factor in site selection, design, and
operations. By 2030, annual water-related capital and
operational expenditures are forecasted to reach US$797.1M,
representing a 31.4% increase from today. According to a new
report from Bluefield Research, U.S. Water for Data Centers:
Market Trends, Opportunities, and Forecasts, 2025–2030, this
surge in activity is accelerating—driven by artificial
intelligence (AI)-fueled growth, mounting local concerns over
water availability, and the tech sector’s urgent push to
safeguard operational resilience amid growing environmental
scrutiny. Hyperscale data centers, which currently represent
51.4% of total market demand, are forecasted to withdraw 150.4
billion gallons of water between 2025 and 2030. This volume is
equivalent to the annual water withdrawals of 4.6 million U.S.
households.
Oil and gas companies are running out of options for disposing
of polluted water they generate every day, a problem for the
Trump administration’s “energy dominance” agenda. EPA is
offering the industry a hand by promoting reuse of that
wastewater. The effort worries environmentalists, but it could
draw crucial political allies in oil-producing states. The
agency plans to update rules for what can be done with water
that emerges from the ground during oil and gas extraction. The
goal is to allow the chemical-laden, super-salty brine to be
substantially cleaned and reused for power generation,
water-guzzling data centers and irrigating
rangeland. Reusing the water could
address a major industry challenge and help ease crippling
drought in parts of Texas and New Mexico, two of the nation’s
most prolific oil-producing states. A growing body of research
suggests that the water — which is three or more times saltier
than seawater — can now be safely treated for certain
applications, from industrial cooling to growing alfalfa and
other non-food crops, proponents say.
